A former General Services Administration contracting director pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in a scheme to get her husband federal and private contracting jobs.

Helen Renee Ballard, 51, and Robert Ballard, 56, of Brandywine, Md, pleaded guilty on March 23, 2017 to a charge of conspiracy to make false statements to the federal government. An additional 11 counts, including charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and making false statements, were dropped in a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

Renee Ballard, a former director of GSA’s Central Office Contracting Division, admitted to helping her husband Robert get jobs at a federal contractor working for GSA by pumping up his resume and manipulating the hiring process to get the highest salaries possible, according to court documents. She also shopped her husband’s falsely augmented resume around to other federal agency human resources departments.

Prosecutors said the $1.3 million federal government contracting scheme was a family affair.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a former General Services Administration (GSA) official and her husband on charges of conspiring to skirt contracting rules to hire family members and the relative of another employee.

Prosecutors said Helen “Renee” Ballard, a former GSA contracting office director, and her husband, a former employee of the Arlington, Virginia-based federal contractor, CACI Inc., used their positions to place relatives on a contract that Ballard supervised.

The couple, who live in Brandywine, Maryland, were indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and false statements.